upporters of French rider Aymeric de Ponnat and the striking bay stallion Armitages Boy have organized a crowdfunding campaign in the face of an uncertain future for the pair.

Ponnat has developed Armitages Boy, a 12-year-old Oldenburg (Armitage x Feo) for the last five years, taking him from a talented youngster to the top levels of international five-star show jumping. Together, Ponnat and Armitages boy won the 2012 Grand Prix of Gijon, the 2014 Nations Cup of La Baule, and most recently finished 4th in the Grand Prix of Dinard CSI5* this past August.

But that last result was bittersweet, as Ponnat, who partly owns the stallion, was faced with the fact that his co-owners wished to sell their shares in Armitages Boy. They plan to hold an auction at the end of September to do so, making no guarantees that the horse will stay under the saddle of Ponnat after he is sold.

Upon learning this news, supporters of the pair led by the French show jumping news website Info Jumping organized a crowdfunding campaign to raise €250,000 to allow Ponnat to buy his partners out. Ponnat is also currently seeking a partner who will allow him to keep the ride on Armitages Boy.

“There are several owners of the horse and it is their decision to sell Armitages Boy,” a representative of Info Jumping commented. “We must respect their decision and we can only thank them for what they have done because if they had not been there, Armitages Boy would have been sold in 2013. The main objective of the Fundraising campaign is to try to secure the horse with Aymeric de Ponnat and to find investors who would like to leave the horse with Aymeric until the end of its career.”

The crowdfunding campaign is running parallel to Ponnat’s efforts to find a private owner, while the campaign hopes to meet its fundraising goal in the next 14 days. Follow this link for detailson fundraising levels and to join the campaign.